Prudential Realtor Karin Malesh, who handled the property sale, had a positive outlook.

“This is going to be great for the community,” Malesh said. “The new owner wants to make it into a mercantile for local vendors.”

Last week, a “sold” sign was attached to the for sale sign, which had been on the property for almost a year.

Colon Village President Tom Whitford said he was surprised and pleased when he saw the sign.

On Friday, he stopped at the Lamb Knit building to introduce himself to the new owner.

“I am very excited,” Whitford said. “This is a boost to our community and certainly our community can use a boost. He (Mishler) wants to refurbish the whole thing, floor by floor, section by section, and open a retail business. He wants to maintain its identity. Lamb Knit has been in Colon since the Civil War.”

Whitford said the owner even wants to remove the vines growing on the front of the factory so that people can clearly see the words, “Lamb Knit.”

In addition, he wants to keep the outside the same by preserving as much of the front yard as possible, Whitford said.

‘Everything has value’

Mishler, a LaGrange County Amish man, has a passion for antiques. He and his wife, Leona, have 11 children. He learned about the Lamb Knit building from a friend who scouts the area for antiques.

“There was a lot more here than I expected to see,” he said. “In fact, I just found another room today. I saw a door, opened it, and found a big boiler room filled with stuff.”

Mishler describes his recent visits to his new property as an adventure.

“Everything has value,” he said. “Even some trash is valuable. We recycle.”

Mishler said he already took two loads of items to the Shipshewana auction.

He is tentatively making plans for an auction on the front yard of Lamb Knit, to take place Oct. 20. Everything that has a Colon connection will be put up for bid.

Mishler said he was amazed to see a small stage area inside Lamb Knit for Colon magic shows. There’s a lot of magic memorabilia scattered around.

There are thousands of items to be sold. Mishler described many as one-of-a-kind collectibles.

“These are my kind of antiques,” Mishler said as he climbed on a wood saddle maker from the 1800s. “We’ve got incubators, a butter churner, a wooden wheelbarrow, a corn planter from Burr Oak.”

Page 2 of 2 - Many rooms are filled with furniture from the 1970s that was made locally but never used.

There was an assortment of old publications in another room, including a 1971 Colon Magi yearbook.

Recent history

Early in 2011, Cal Shoop, 85, owner of the Lamb Knit Goods factory since the early 1970s, said he was interested in selling the property.

Shoop, who spends most of his time in Florida, had operated Woodcrafters, a furniture business, inside the Lamb Knit factory for many years.

The Colon building was Shoop’s storage facility for furniture and antiques for decades. Shoop still owns the small house next door.

For three years, an unidentified developer had an option on the property to convert it into an assisted living facility. That option has expired.

Mishler said it will take at least $250,000 to renovate the building and bring it up to code. No work can begin until the building’s contents are sold. Mishler said he may make close to what he paid for the property just by selling everything inside.

“It is a sound structure,” he said. “But it needs a lot of work. I also want to renovate all of the hardwood floors.”

“I think he’s going to turn it into quite the social place,” said Colon Village president Tom Whitford. He has invited Mishler to attend a future Village Council meeting to meet the Board of Trustees.

“I said we’d look into the old city water tower next to Lamb Knit that’s not in use any more,” said Whitford. “That in itself is an historical entity.”

Whitford said the idea of refurbishing Lamb Knit is going to take an enormous amount of work.

“I was encouraged by what he said and how he said it,” Whitford said. “He’s determined to do it.”